The Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission announced today that an emergency plan to “block the Hormuz Strait in response to Western sanctions” has been presented to Parliament with 100 signatures.
The Mehr News Agency reported that on Monday, Parliament examined a plan to block the passage of oil tankers destined for countries that have imposed sanctions on Iran.
Starting July 1, EU countries stopped all oil deals with Iran as a consequence of their nuclear disputes with the Islamic Republic. Europe had accounted for 18 percent of Iran’s oil revenues.
Keyhan Newspaper, a chief media outlet close to Iran’s Supreme Leader, also wrote today that blocking the Strait of Hormuz should be considered as a legitimate way of gaining leverage against the “bullying tactics of the U.S. and its allies against the Islamic Republic.”
Meanwhile, Iranian media report that on Monday morning, Iran began a three-day missile exercise called the Great Prophet 7, aimed at testing “ballistic missiles simultaneously from various regions of the country to destroy simulated bases of trans-regional countries in the Iranian desert as well as objectives at sea.”
While it’s possible that Parliament could pass the bill to block the Strait of Hormuz within the next few days, the Iranian armed forces are not bound by parliamentary legislation since they are under the command of the Supreme Leader.
Iran had previously said that it would consider blocking the Strait of Hormuz as a response to foreign threats and sanctions.
